Web separator



R. G. LUCAS WEB SEPARATOR Aug. 26, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Nov. 1966 Aug- 26, 1969 R. G. LUCAS l 3,463,377

WEB SEPARATOR Filea Nov. 9, 196e 2 sheetssheet f;

United States Patent O 3,463,377 WEB SEPARATOR Robert G. Lucas, Downingtown, Pa., assignor to Beloit Eastern Corporation, Downingtown, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 9, 1966, Ser. No. 593,085 Int. Cl. B65h 23/26 U.S. Cl. 226-197 1 Claim ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a strip or sheet separator of the type used in a slitter and Winder arrangement and particularly to `means for laterally separating a plurality of immediately contiguous separate elongated strips.

In the manufacture of paper or other elongated webs, the webs are initially formed as relatively wide sheets. For example, paper machine forming surfaces or wires are frequently relatively wide, e.g. up to over 300` inches. The sheet or web is wound onto a roll to later be unwound for further preparation of the paper .and is usually slit into a plurality of narrower strips for shipping, storing and use. Generally in order to carry out the formation of the relatively narrow paper strips, the large web or sheet as formed is passed through a slitter Iassembly and finally to a Winder in which the separate relatively narrow strips are Wound upon a paper or a wooden core, or steel pipe or plastic core. The difficulty of accurately separating the separate strips formed from the single large wide web will be appreciated, particularly since such separation must be accurate and accomplished at relatively high speed in order that the commercial production of Well formed rolls of strip material may be carried out.

It is essential when the separate strips are slit from the travelling web that the strips be uniformly separated and rewound onto a roll without any overlapping. Because of the great weight and size of the rolls being wound, and the tension in the strips, if Vany substantial overlap occurs the separate portions of the roll will be interlocked and cannot be separated without damaging the paper. This results in necessitating destruction of the entire roll which is undesirable because of the Waste of time and material. It is yalso essential in the separation of the individual strips that this be accomplished without introducing nonuniform tension across the strips which will be introduced into the roll formed from the strips and result in shitting by some disturbance causing temporary instability or sliding of the web and the production of nonuniform paper.

A feature of the invention is the provision of a mechanism for separating strips which have been slit from a traveling web and which includes a first means extending across the web and supporting the strips curved to turn the strips at a diverging angle with respect to each other, and including a second means spaced below and following the first means and curved to turn the strips from their diverging paths to paths which are parallel to each other.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved sheet spreader mechanism capable of accurately separating a plurality of strips formed by a slitter er1- gaging a traveling web at relatively high speeds.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved strip spreader which accomplishes uniform separation of traveling strips without inducing nonuniformities in the individual strips and without inducing mo- 3,463,377 Patented Aug. 26, 1969 ment producing tension distributions which occur in devices heretofore available and which provide undesirable defects such as wrinkles in the strips.

A further object of the invention is to provide a strip spreading mechanism which is adjustable during operation to achieve dierent spreading effects or to compensate for nonuniform characteristics in the Web material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a spreading mechanism which is capable of satisfactorily handling multi-layered paper Webs.

Other objects, advantages and features will become moge apparent with the teaching of the principles of the invention in connection with the disclosure of the preferred embodiment thereof in the specication, claim and drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view shown in somewhat schematic form of a winder and slitter mechanism employing a spreader or separator embodying the principles of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is another side elevational view shown somewhat schematic in form, also employing a separator embodying the principles of the present invention;

FIGURE 3 is a schematic perspective View showing the separator of the invention;

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view showing adjustment mechanism for the separator;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary plan View of a web support illustrating a form of the separator mechanism; and

FIGURES 6 and 7 are diagrammatic showings for aiding in explaining the operation of the principles of the invention.

On the drawings:

FIGURE l illustrates an unwinder slitter Winder mechanism wherein a roll 10 having a paper web W wound therein is supported in a stand. The web is unwound oiI of the roll and passes over a guide roll 12 through a slitter having slitter bands 13a with slitter blades 13 coacting therewith to separate the web into a plurality of strips. Following the slitter the strips pass through a strip separator or spreader 14 including a iirst support 15 and a second support 16 which may take different forms as Will be described in detail later in connection with FIG- URES 3 and 5.

Following the support 16 the strips will have been separated and will be running parallel to each other and pass over a guide roll 17 downwardly to be wound onto winding rolls. In the arrangement illustrated a vertical wind ing apparatus is employed with the strips on one side of the web passing over the drum 13 and being wound on the roll 21, and the strips on the other side of the web passing between the drum 19 and the roll 20 and being wound onto the roll. Another way in which the curvature of the bow of the roll may be changed is by applying a bending moment at each end `of the roll to cause the desired bend.

The rolls 20 and 2-1 are supported on cores 22 and 23 respectively which are supported on rails 24 and 25 to permit the rolls 20 and 21 to move outwardly as they increase in size and arms 26 and 27 are operated by pressure cylinders 23 and 29 and bear on the cores 22 and 23 to maintain a desired nip pressure between the rolls Ztl and 2.1 and their drums 18 and 19;

In the arrangement of FIGURE 2 a horizontal winder scheme is employed wherein the web W is payed oli? of a supply roll 31 supported in the stand 32. The Web passes over a guide roll 33 and through a slitter comprising slitter drums 35 with coacting slitter knives 34. The strips which are slit from the web W pass through the strip splitter or separator mechanism 36 which includes a lirst strip support 37 and a second strip support 3S.

Following the support 38 the strips are separated and traveling parallel to each other and pass over a support drum 39 onto a windup roll 41 which is also supported by a drum 40.

As will be noted, the second support 16 in the arrangement of FIGURE l can be positioned to be spaced below and following the first support because of the horizontal space available with the vertical winder structure. In the arrangement of FIGURE 2 in order to save space, the second support 38 is spaced below and behind the first support 37 affording space saving advantages.

The strip separators or spreaders are shown in detail in FIGURE 3 with the oncoming web W being separated into separate strips s-l, s-2, s-3, s-4, and s-S by slitters 43.

The strips pass over a first supporting means 45 shown in the form of a cylindrically shaped nonrotati'ng bowed roll. The support roll 45 performs the step of defiecting the strips into separate paths wherein they diverge from each other. The strips then pass over a second support means 51 shown also in the form of a stationary nonrotating bowed roll, which is below and follows the first support 45. The second support 51 functions to divert the path of the strips so that they turn to individual paths parallel to each other while retaining their separation.

The first support 45 in essence provides a plurality of support surfaces each of which supports one of the strips With the surfaces arranged generally in an arcuate conformation with the center of the arc bowed in a general direction toward the oncoming web W. In the preferred form the separate supporting areas are continuous and conveniently take the form of a locked bowed roll. The curvature of the bowed supports 45 and 51 is similar but not necessarily identical. It is necessary that the second support 51 be positioned below the first support and while in a preferred arrangement it follows the first support, it can be arranged to be behind the first support as illustrated in FIGURE 2.

The spreading arrangement of the two succeeding supports or spreaders 45 and 51 functions independently of speed of the web and independently of tension achieving the same effect.

Adjustment of the spreading effect can be accomplished in a number of ways.

The first way is by adjusting the vertical distance between the first and second spreaders 45 and 51. To decrease the spreading effect the spreaders 45 and 51 are moved more closely together and to increase the spreading effect they are moved vertically further away. By increasing the vertical distance between the spreaders, the separation between the strips will be greater by the time they reach the second spreader 51 and are turned to be parallel to each other. Adjustment means are provided by suitable mechanism not shown such as slides or pivots and the vertical adjustment of each of the spreaders is shown schematically by the arrowed lines 74 and 75.

'Ille second way of controlling the spreading effect is to move the spreaders 45 and 51 horizontally toward or away from each other. As they are moved closer together horizontally the spreading effect is increased and as they are moved further away the spreading effect is decreased.

The spreading effect can also be increased by moving the lower spreader 51 behind the upper spreader to the relative positions shown by the upper and lower spreaders 37 and 38 in FIGURE 2. The relative horizontal adjustment of the spreaders is accomplished by suitable mechanism shown schematically by the arrowed lines 72 and 73.

While the upper and lower spreaders 45 and 51 are generally bowed parallel to each other, that is, bowed in the direction of the oncoming web W, minor correctional adjustments can be made by rotating the position of the bow in .each of the rolls as shown schematically by the adjustment arrowed lines 70 and 71.

While generally the spreader supports 45 and 51 are non-rotating rolls of substantially the same bow, it has been found that the bow of the second non-rotating roll 51 will vary with respect to the first non-rotating roll 45 as a function of the elasticity of the oncoming web W and the width of that particular slit web s-l, s-Z, s-3, s-4 and s-S. As the width of the slit web s-1, s-Z, s-3, s-4 and s-5 increases, it has been found that the bow of the second non-rotating roll 51 be increased, radius of curvature decreased, relative to the bow of the first non-rotating roll 45. If the slit web width s-1, s-Z, s-3, s-4 and s-S decreases to an incrementally small width, the bow of the second non-rotating roll 51 is incrementally smaller than the bow of the first non-rotating roll 45.

While in the usual web uniform web thickness and tension is encountered on both sides, in some instances nonuniform webs can be compensated for by adjusting one side of the spreader or the other. That is, the horizontal or vertical adjustments 72 or 74 of the first spreader 45 or the horizontal or vertical adjustments 73 and 75 of the second spreader S1 at either end can be operated independently of the other end. This can be accomplished without concern as to interweaving between separate strips.

When runing web materials of light weight or high surface finish or gloss, or when using the spreader with low strength webs being rewound under light tensions, air flotation support can be utilized to control the capstan effect around the spreaders. In that case each of the spreader supports such as 45 and 51 will have a web facing surface which is perforate. Jets of air flow continually through the perforations to support the strips to avoid contact between the sheet and the spreaders. However the spreading or separating effect is accomplished with the same facility without actual engagement with the sheet. An example of this type of surface is shown in FIG- URE 6 wherein the spreader support is shown at 70 with air emission openings 71 in the surface. The separator 70 may be a hollow tube with a connection for a receiving of air under presure into the interior with the air emerging out through the air jet opening 71 for supporting the strips.

As previously stated the spreading effect is controlled by the amount of curvature, the horizontal relative position of the vertical relative position of the support spreaders. While these factors may be determined by manual adjustments when the structure is on the machine, they may also be computed mathematically in advance of constructing the mechanism. Where any two of the factors are known the designer can solve for the third or he may interrelate them for the most convenient structure depending upon the circumstances of installation.

It is to be particularly understood that while the drawings and description show and describe a structure and method of separating strips, the invention may be ernployed for moving the separated strips closer together. This is accomplished by running the webs through the separating mechanism in a direction opposite that illustrated. In FIGURE 3, for example, instead of the web running left to right, it is run from right to left with the separate strips moving closer together as they successively pass over the rolls 51 and 45. It is accordingly to be understood that the description and the limitations in the claim are to be considered as not solely limited to the specific use employed, but are to be interpreted for the purpose of separating strips or for the purpose of bringing the strips more closely together. Further it is to be understood that reference to the position of the second roll as being below the first has reference only to its relative position and if the web is run under the first roll and then upwardly, the second roll may be positioned above the first and the structural positions are described in the manner chosen for the reference only.

By way of example, with reference to FIGURES 6 and 7, a structure is shown wherein the diameters of non-rotating rolls and their separation distance is known and the curvature is to be adjusted to obtain the desired separation. In FIGURE 6:

H=Vertical distance between roll centers L=Horizontal distance between roll centers D=Roll diameter Se=Unsupported length of strips between rolls tangent point to tangent point) LzHorizontal length between points of contact of the strips and rolls B (approximate angle) 60 Where the sheet face equals 200 inches and ten slits are formed to provide eleven strips and the desired spacing of the slits is 0.040 inch sin a Applicant does not wish to be bound by the foregoing calculations since they illustrate only an approximation of a relatively rapid way of determining sizes and spacing. It will be recognized that more accurate methods may be used or non-rotating rolls ot substantially the same size may be chosen and adjusted in spacing to accomplish the desired spreading.

Thus it -will be seen that there has been provided an improved strip separation mechanism which achieves the advantages and objectives above set forth. The structures described perform the improved method and avoid disadvantages and obtain an operation heretofore not available.

The drawings and specification present a detailed disclosure of the preferred embodiments of the invention, and it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific forms disclosed, but covers all modifications, changes and alternative constructions and methods falling within the scope of the principles taught by the inventor.

I claim as my invention:

1. A mechanism for separating strips of a traveling web comprising:

rst supporting means having a plurality of support areas with each area supporting one of the strips of a web,

`said areas positioned to form an arc so that the strips will separate upon passing over said supporting means, second supporting means having a plurality of supporting areas with each area supporting one of the strips,

said areas positioned to form an arc so that the strips will be directed to move parallel to each other after being separated by the rst means with said second means positioned out of the plane of and following the rst means relative to the plane of the web approaching the rst means, rst arc changing means connected to the first supporting means for changing the curvature of the arc thereof, and second arc changing means connected to the second supporting means for changing the arc thereof, whereby the separating effect of said supporting means can be adjustably controlled.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/ 1927 Meyer 226-197 X 10/1963 Karr 226-199 X FOREIGN PATENTS 5/ 1951 Canada. 5/ 1951 Great Britain. 

